Newcastle notebook
● Callum Wilson showed remarkable mental strength to bounce back from two serious knee injuries in the space of just 16 months with the help of a reconditioning expert who has worked with Tiger Woods, Andy Murray and Peyton Manning.
The Newcastle United striker went to see Bill Knowles in Philadelphia back in the summer of 2017 as he prepared to start running again after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during his spell at Bournemouth.
Wilson, who had Bournemouth physio Jonny King for company, was so dedicated during the two-week training camp that he even missed the birth of his daughter, Orlagh, back in the UK.
After previously tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in 2015, Wilson has not suffered a similar injury since then and the 28-year-old follows his own bespoke routines before training and games.
“Jonny King, the medical staff and the fitness coaches did a very good job in preparing for him to come see me and embracing a lot of the strategies that I recommended when he returned back to the club,” Knowles told the Sunday Sun. “It was a clear message that I gave to Callum that he had to stick to the fundamentals and stick to the basics.
“We always say that a knee injured athlete or a joint compromised athlete is always a joint compromised athlete and you must never forget that and you must continuously apply the methods that helped you come back throughout the week, throughout the month, throughout your career and if you do that continuously, you really reduce the risk of re-injury.
“If he continues that methodology and continues that emphasis at Newcastle, he should be pretty fit.”
● Nick De Marco was careful not to go into too much detail about the legalities surrounding Newcastle United’s failed takeover while it was still ongoing because he could have ended up acting for one of the parties involved - and so it proved.
The Magpies and Mike Ashley have instructed De Marco and fellow Blackstone Chambers’ QC Shaheed Fatima to act on their behalf in their dispute with the Premier League after the Saudi-backed consortium withdrew their offer to buy the club earlier this summer.
De Marco is one of the leading barristers in sports law and has acted for sports governing bodies, players, clubs, sponsors, broadcasters and agents.
Among those who are well-placed to give an insight into De Marco is Jason Kallis, a partner at Key Stone Law, who previously served as a non-executive director at QPR alongside the QC.
“Nick has done pretty much everything in football,” he said. “He’s looked at it from the players’ point of view, the FA’S point of view. He’s done it from every angle so that’s what you’re getting from him, really. .”
Ms Fatima, an expert in public international law, will also be acting for the Magpies and Ashley.
The buyers offered assurances from the ‘highest possible level’ to try and establish that it was Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), rather than the government, who would be in charge. However, given the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, is the chairman of the PIF as well as the country’s deputy prime minister, you can see how this proved complicated.
Ms Fatima previously acted for Saudi prince Abdul Aziz bin Fahd and has been described as ‘Supreme Court judge material’.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (have not registered any arbitration procedures relating to this dispute as of yet.